1. Field of the Invention.
The present invention relates to digital image processing systems. In particular, the present invention relates to a digital image processing system which permits free flow of high speed image data and addresses in a pipelined architecture.
2. Description of the Prior Art.
Over the years many different types of digital image processing systems have been developed and have found use in various fields such as medical imaging, remote sensing, and graphic arts. However, this development primarily has been directed toward evolving new processor elements with more efficient architecture, larger and faster memory elements and more sophisticated input-output elements. There has been little change in the technology involved in transferring information among the various elements in the image processing system.
In digital imaging processing systems, it is typical to use pipeline architecture in which parallel digital data flows from one element to another within the image processor. This pipeline architecture provides the opportunity for high speed data transfers, since the data is transferred in parallel from one element to the next within the pipeline image processor. Each element or block within the processor performs a dedicated function and passes its results along to the next element in the processor.
This prior art pipeline image processor architecture, however, has encountered practical limitations in the computational complexity of image processing functions which could be performed. Typically, the processor is synchronized to the video monitor, which places a practical limit on the maximum time a processing task can consume in any one of the pipeline processor blocks. That in turn places a limit on the computational complexity which can be performed by the image processor. Standard buses such as VME and MULTIBUS are capable of handling image functions of high computational complexity, but are not capable of sustaining the high transfer rates required of a high performance image processing system.